Alexa looked away from his intense stare. “I know why she did it. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It does matter. It matters to me.”
She looked around the room, out the window, at her chest of drawers, everywhere except at him. “You do know she’s in love with you, right?” said Alexa. She moved towards a small desk and flipped through the pages of the illustrated version of The Hobbit. She was desperate to change the subject, desperate to stop the fluttering in her heart.
“Rachel’s in love with Rachel.”
“But you two had a thing before,” said Alexa “I can feel it when I look at her. I can see it in her eyes.”
“That was two years ago,” said Erik. His voice was flat. “And I broke it off. We’re just better off as friends. I still care about her, but not in that way. We’re friends. Nothing more. Are you worried that we’ll get back together? Is that it?”
Alexa froze. “Worried? What are you talking about? I’m an angel, and you’re a mortal. Your romantic liaisons are none of my business. We shouldn’t even be talking about this.” She tried to laugh it off, but she knew she sounded lame and forced.
What the hell was he saying?
Her M-Suit felt like it was about to burst into flames as it struggled to reproduce the emotions she would have felt if she had been alive. She gripped the headrest of the chair until she couldn’t feel her fingers.
Erik was silent for a moment. “Does it hurt?”
She knew exactly what he meant by it, and it wasn’t her fingers or her ego. “Yes. Sometimes.” Still, she wouldn’t look at him. She was afraid of what she might do.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had been stabbed with a death blade?”
Alexa sighed. “Because I didn’t feel it was important at the time. I was trying to save your life. It’s what I’m supposed to do, remember? Save mortal lives, keep them safe. Everything else is inconsequential.”
“So you thought that letting yourself die slowly was okay? Because it’s not, you know.”
“I thought my…” she paused, the words wouldn’t hide the reality that she wasn’t mortal like him. “I thought my angel body would repair itself. The archangel Ariel had mentioned that it might—”
“It didn’t.”
“I know that,” she said.
But then his expression hardened. “So all this time you’ve been in pain and suffering, without uttering a single world of it to anyone? Does Lance know?”
“No.” She realized how stupid she sounded. “I didn’t want to risk it.”
“Because if he’d known he would have made you go back. Wouldn’t he?” Erik shook his head. “I knew something was wrong.” He began to pace the room. “I could just tell by looking at you, how tired you looked and how slowly you were moving. It wasn’t normal for an angel.” He stopped and turned. He held nothing back, and she could see the emotion in his face. “How long do you have?”
“A few weeks maybe? Maybe less? I’m not sure.” Alexa had no idea how long the M-Suit would last, or what would happen when it ran out of time. Would she combust into dust like the demons?
“And what happens when you reach your expiry date?” he said, as though reading her mind.
Alexa looked away. The truth was that she hadn’t really thought about it. She’d always thought she’d have the courage to leap into the water and go back to Horizon. She thought she’d want to go back. It didn’t help that Lance still hadn’t returned. She felt uneasy. The fact that Lance wasn’t back could only mean that he was still healing from his injuries, or that the Legion wasn’t letting him come. Alexa knew it was the latter. She hadn’t returned when she was supposed to. And now there would be hell to pay. Literally.
Erik thought for a moment, but then he went on. “If you weren’t afraid of the water,” he added carefully, “would you have gone back? After the attacks?”
She’d known all along Erik had kept her secret, but she was still ashamed. “I would have stayed long enough to make sure you were okay, and then…” She swallowed hard. “Pathetic, isn’t it? I know that water can’t kill me because technically I’m already dead. But I’m still afraid of that damn water. I can’t help it. I can’t shake it off. It’s my curse.”
“It’s not your fault. You experienced a traumatic experience when you were young. These things have a way of staying with you.”
But Alexa wasn’t listening to him. “I should never had been made a guardian. The Legion made a mistake, a terrible mistake.” And then she added softly to herself. “I should never have come here.”
“You should have gone back, Alexa.”
“Why do you even care?” She was hurt, and her voice cracked. “You hate angels, remember? Why the sudden change of heart?” She knew she’d touched on a sensitive subject, but she just wanted him to leave. Once he was gone, she’d slip down to the pool and leave, forever. She felt like she was being stabbed over and over again with a death blade.
“I did hate angels,” began Erik, as though he was testing the words on his mouth. “I hated them for a long time. I still do sometimes.” He raked his fingers in his hair. “I blamed the Legion for the deaths of my parents. They didn’t help then, and they didn’t help much after. It’s still very unclear what happened to them. But what happened to my parents has nothing to do with you. And I realize that now. You’re different. I got to know you, and I realized I was wrong.”
Alexa fidgeted under his penetrating stare. “How so?”
“Not all angels are pompous asses. Some actually care about us. Like you.” He stared at her so intensely that she shifted on her feet. “You cared enough to save me. You saved my life, even when you were injured.”
Alexa knew it was stupid and immature for her to even think that Erik could ever want her. She was dead, and he was alive. “You shouldn’t be here, Erik,” she said. “You should go before someone finds you here with me. It wouldn’t look right. I’m a monster, remember?”
Erik’s jaw settled into the stubborn line she had gotten to know so well. “Don’t say that,” he said, and Alexa could almost swear he sounded angry.
“Why not? It’s the truth. Everyone knows I’m a monster. Look at me. I’m like the walking dead. My body is falling apart. I’m like a parasite, hitching a ride on a host. I’m not human. I’m not even real.”
Erik closed the distance between them. His face was so close to hers that his minty breath tickled her cheeks. Before she knew what had happened, he had cupped her face in his hands, and his lips had touched hers.
The wonderful explosion of sensations that started in the pit of her stomach and radiated out were nothing like the mortal kisses she’d had before. This was much, much better, a thousand times better. All her senses zeroed in on his lips, his touch, his breath, his warmth—it was an atomic bomb of bliss.
This had to be some secret. Hell, if angels knew how euphoric kissing mortals could be, they’d all be doing it all the time.
At first his kiss was gentle, like a couple on their first date. Then, his kiss turned hungry. The ferocity of his grip around her waist and shoulders and the grinding pressure of his lips threw her off balance and whirled out of control.
The pressure eased, and his kiss became more sensual. A tingling warmth shot from the brush of his tongue straight to her core and ignited every single nerve ending. Her M-suit responded with desire that only increased as she leaned against him and kissed him back. He straightened, but she hugged her body into his, even though it still aggravated her wounds to do so. She melted into the hard muscles of his chest and crushed her breasts against him.
Erik pulled back and took a gulp of air. But he was still so close that his panting breath blew against her lips. His eyes burned with desire.
“You feel real enough to me.” His voice was a lover’s purr.
And with that, he turned and left. As she watched him go, her body still trembled, and she knew she was in big, big trouble.
CHAPTER 21
TH
E FOLLOWING DAY ALEXA WAS A MESS.
She couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss. She was more confused than ever. She had thought Erik might come back and had waited like an idiot. But after an hour, she realized he wouldn’t and stopped waiting.
How could this be happening to her? Angels weren’t supposed to fall for mortals…were they? Shouldn’t her M-suit have protected her from such mortal emotions? Apparently not. But he had kissed her. And she’d been kissed enough to know that this intimate kiss had real tenderness and passion behind it. Had she imaged it or did Erik really have feelings for her? Did he kiss her just to prove a point to himself? Was this some sort of test? Was he just using her? Maybe kissing angels felt as good to him as kissing mortals did to her, and that’s why he’d done it.
Once she had ascertained that Erik wasn’t going to come back, Alexa decided to set her plan into action. She set up the fake account on Coffin Singles and immediately sent a message to Darknight.
LindseyJones: Hi! What's up? I'm glad I found you online. I like your profile. I’m free tonight. Are you available to meet later for coffee or drinks?
It may have been a bit pushy because they haven’t even chatted yet, and even though she knew it sounded desperate, she was sure the demon would take the bait. She felt hollow and sick when she read some of the messages between Darknight and his last victim. It was sad to think these girls thought they were going to meet some hot guy, when in fact they were going to meet their doom. She faltered a little when she read his profile description. He’d described himself as a nineteen-year-old bachelor, six foot with blond hair and blue eyes. Guess it wouldn’t have worked with the truth, since Michael was old enough to be their fathers and had raven hair. The thought of Michael meeting up with innocent girls made her want to hit something. Preferably him.
She waited until the early hours of the morning for a message back, but Darknight didn’t respond. She was tempted to write another message but decided against it. There was still time. She knew he would write back. She just knew it.
She spent most of the day afraid to leave her room while she waited for her phone to beep. But when dinnertime came around, she knew Houses Gabriel and Michael would be preparing for their night shift, and she bolted from her room.
The thought of seeing Erik again sent jolts of nervous energy rippling through her. She didn’t know if she could face him. What would she say to him? How would he be when they faced each other?
She walked around the grounds so engrossed in her jumbled feelings that she didn’t even notice the looks some of the mortals were giving her. The wound on her back throbbed with every step, but she ignored the pain. Sooner or later, she knew she’d have to deal with it, but now wasn’t the time. Her M-suit still had a few weeks left. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized how impossible her situation was. They could never be together. Never. It was impossible.
Perhaps this was why angels weren’t permitted to stay too long in the mortal world. It just got too confusing. Her prolonged stay must somehow have been responsible for her desire to be mortal again. Her angel intuition told her it was wrong.
Would her feelings for Erik evaporate as she made the ascension back to Horizon? Would she shed her feelings with her damaged M-suit? Would she even remember him?
Her hope evaporated. The Legion could simply erase her memory. She wasn’t in control. They were. She was just a soldier obeying orders.
She fished out the cell phone from her jacket pocket and frowned. Still no message. She needed more answers, so she headed straight for the library.
People were reading, writing, and whispering on all three floors of the library, but she spotted the person she was looking for right away. Daniel Turner. Perfect.
She crossed the floor and plopped down right next to him. She flashed him a smile like the one that Rachel often gave to Erik when she wanted his attention.
“Hi Daniel. I’m Alexa.”
Daniel didn’t take his eyes off his laptop. “I know who you are.”
“Listen. Erik told me that you were the expert about all things supernatural,” she said. She leaned forward to get a glimpse of the screen. Four separate windows were open, and all of them contained strange symbols and markings that looked like a mix between hieroglyphics and Chinese. “I need your help with something.”
He didn’t react at all, and then he said, “I’m busy. Go away.”
His skin was very pale and his dark clothes made him look like a goth or a wannabe vampire. He definitely didn’t go out in the sun very often. His clothes were wrinkled and disheveled. He obviously couldn’t care less about his appearance.
“What do you know about a black rift?” It took half a second before he turned and looked at her, and she almost smiled to see the curiosity in his big hazel eyes. She had his full attention. Gotcha.
“A black rift?” He frowned.
Alexa rested her elbows on the long mahogany desk. “I’m sure that’s not what it’s called, but I don’t know what else to call it.”
“Can you describe it?”
“It looked like a portal of some kind. It was in the split of an old tree, and it was black. There were stones placed in a circle around it, and they had markings on them. I took the basic demonology 101 classes in Horizon, but I couldn’t make out what they said.” She stared at him. “Can you help me? Have you ever heard of something like that? Of a black rift?”
Any information she could get would help her be better prepared for her encounter with Darknight. The black rift had disappeared for the moment, but she had the feeling it would be back.
Daniel’s eyes blinked several times before he said, “Maybe.”
Although he showed no real interest, she was certain he treated everybody with the same apparent indifference. She liked him instantly. She always had a penchant for the nerds.
“I’ll have to log into the Elder Codex,” Daniel said after a moment.
“The Elder Codex?”
“It’s a program, a refence tool like a Wikipedia. It’s classified stuff, for Elder eyes only, but a few of us have permission to go through the books.”
“Books? I thought you said it was a program.”
“It is,” said Daniel. “But it’s also a series of seven books, the Deus Septem. The archangels gave them to us, to help guide us in our encounters with demons and whatever else slips through from the Netherworld. Thirty years ago, the Council decided the only way to preserve the books would be to transfer the data into a computerized program it called the Elder Codex. All the texts and images were scanned and uploaded into the program while the original books were kept safe and hidden somewhere secret. The program also allows us to catalogue new information. If there’s anything about this black rift, it’ll be in there.”
His fingers went to work on the key board, but then he froze. Slowly, he turned and raised his eyebrows at her. “Do you mind?”
“What? I haven’t done anything?”
“I have to enter my password.”
“Oh.” Alexa turned around, and Daniel typed in a ten-digit password. She counted.
“Can I turn around now?”
“Yes.”
At first, it looked like Daniel was on some generic online encyclopedia browser. But the bold ELDER CODEX written in red on the top right corner of his screen told a different story.
She watched as he typed BLACK PORTAL RIFT * in a search box and pressed ENTER.
When she saw the results, she leaned forward so close that she brushed her body against his shoulders. But he was so captivated by what he read on the screen that he didn’t notice her. She was practically crawling over his back to see the screen.
Daniel pushed his glasses up the bridge of his greasy nose and said, “Well, there isn’t much. But it says here that a black portal that looks like a rift is known as a Hellgate.”
A cold chill rolled up Alexa’s back at the name. She remembered the two-headed creatures that had been guarding it.
Daniel was silent for a moment, and then he read, “A Hellgate is created when a deep well or wellspring cuts a path to the Netherworld dimension and allows its darkness to flow through to the mortal realm.”
“So it’s a rift?” Alexa wanted to convince herself that it was just a normal rift, but there was something more to this Hellgate. The fact that it had a special name made it different somehow.
“Seems like it,” said Daniel. “The entry is dated 1690. It’s by some guy named Bartholomew Demetria, from House Sariel.” He typed again. “Sorry, but there’s very little information. That’s all there is.”
When he turned around, he flinched at Alexa’s closeness and bumped his laptop. But she didn’t care.
“So if it’s a rift, why not just call it a rift?”
Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know. From what I gather, it’s rare. But it’s still some sort of doorway used by demons.”
“Does it say how it was created?”
Daniel scrolled down the short entry. “Sorry. There’s nothing. Maybe it only appeared once. That would explain the lack of info.”
Alexa stared at the small text paragraph. “Is there anything about how to destroy it? Anything at all that can help me?”
She was disappointed. Her plans wouldn’t change, but she had hoped to find something useful to help her in case the Hellgate opened again. She wanted to understand what was so special about this one and why it was black. She knew there was something more to it.
Daniel shook his head. “Nope. Sorry. Did you actually see this Hellgate?”
“I did.” But she could barely remember it now. The images were vague, like a dream that was slipping away from her.
Daniel looked genuinely interested as, despite himself, he leaned forward. “Where?”
“Not too far from here actually. In Mystic Forest. It’s gone now, like it never existed.”
“Well,” said Daniel as he massaged the back of his neck. “You’d probably have better luck with the Legion.”
The Soul Thief Page 16